Deadlines and Escalations

About Deadlines

Deadlines act as a timer which triggers an Exception transition to another activity when a specified duration has elapsed. Deadlines can be set for each activity.
We set time limits to each activity, which will trigger an exception (in this case, a specific string variable). When a matching transition has the condition set to 'exception' matches this string value, the transition will be invoked.

Deadline execution can be synchronous or asynchronous.
For synchronous execution, the current activity will no longer be active when the deadline is triggered - Used in cases such as approval escalation.
For asynchronous execution, the next activity will be executed while the current activity is still waiting - Used in cases such as sending reminders.
Multiple deadlines are supported for each activity.

The activity deadline checker is disabled by default. To allow activity deadline checking by Joget Workflow, you will have to set the Process Deadline Checker Interval to a non-zero value. Set it to a suitable value, depending on your need.
To enable deadline checking, go to Settings > System Setup.
Change the value for 'Process Deadline Checker Interval' to a non-zero value, i.e. 30 (seconds). The unit used is seconds.

Open the activity properties dialog for the particular activity, and click the 'Create New Element' button in the Deadlines area. A Deadline dialog will pop up. Enter appropriate values for the Execution, Duration Unit and Deadline Limit.
Type in the exception name in the 'Exception name' field e.g. TIMEOUT. Exceptions are case sensitive. Make sure this matches the exception name given to the transition.
Click on 'OK' to confirm the creation of this deadline. You can continue adding multiple deadlines.

When a deadline is triggered, and where the exception name matches the one set for a transition, the flow will execute along that transition to the next element along the workflow.
Add an Exception Type transition from the activity to the next (i.e. Send Reminder).
Set the type of condition to 'Exception'.
Enter an Exception name in the Expression text area e.g. TIMEOUT
Confirm and close the properties window for the transition.

You can set multiple deadlines at an activity. They can include a first level reminder (asynchronous) which will then be followed by an escalation (synchronous) if the activity has not been completed within the time limit.
Remember to match the exception names. If they do not match, nothing will happen.